The growth of Burberry’s iconic trenchcoats is more than a little wrapped up in its tight-knit and high profile executives, namely chief executive Angela Ahrendts, chief financial officer Stacey Cartwright and chief creative director Christopher Bailey.

Ms. Cartwright is stepping down later this year and along with her replacement, insider Carol Fairweather, Burberry is adding another executive to its inner circle. In March former BBC Worldwide CEO John Smith will switch from his current non-executive director role at the group to an executive post as chief operations officer, a newly created role that the company hopes will tap into his financial, marketing and international experience.

Specifically, Burberry is keen to leverage Mr. Smith’s experience with global brand expansion and speed up an already fast-moving digital strategy. He’ll also be able to steer the group’s soon to be in-house beauty division which Burberry hopes to expand to the levels of other fashion houses like Chanel and Christian Dior.

While the company’s strategy is unlikely to change, “Burberry has simply become a much bigger company and given significant changes and opportunities ahead (such as the new beauty division or the termination of the Japanese apparel licensing in 2015), the newly created COO position should be seen as a natural development for the group,” Credit Suisse analysts said in a note to clients Thursday.

Morgan Stanley’s retail experts believe the new position will be taken positively by investors “as it suggests operational review and scope for efficiency gains.”

Luxury group Compagnie Financiere Richemont, the owner of Cartier and other watch brands like Piaget and IWC, Monday reported lower than expected sales growth for its crucial pre-Christmas period thanks in no small part to flat trading (in constant currencies) in the Asia Pacific region.

Its China performance follows a pattern of other companies reporting slowdowns towards the end of last year as Chinese consumers fretted over the change in government in Beijing and slower economic growth.

Swiss watch and jewelry maker Richemont must be hoping Lunar New Year festivities, celebrated in China and other Asian countries, will bring a welcome sales boost.

The Geneva-based company, which owns the Cartier and Montblanc brands, posted a 9% rise in Christmas holiday sales to 2.86 billion euros ($3.81 billion) in the three months ending Dec. 31, a marked slowdown from the 24% growth reported a year earlier. The figure was a notch below analyst expectations of €2.89 billion and the stock slumped as much as 5.7% in midday trading Monday.

It’s not entirely unexpected that Johann Rupert is stepping down as Chief Executive of Richemont.

He took on the role in 2010 on a temporary basis after Norbert Platt left for health reasons. Back then Mr. Rupert, now aged 62, said it was only a temporary measure and he would stay there until the economy improved.

In the two years he’s been at the helm, he’s overseen stellar performance, with sales rising from €5.18 billion in 2010 to €8.87 billion in 2012. Profit has also surged, from €600 million two years ago, to €1.54 billion last year as Richemont rode the luxury boom.

But what happens next?

Has Mr. Rupert seen the peak of the luxury boom and is leaving the scene before the downturn?

When it comes to wealthy consumers splashing out, the top end of luxury is where shoppers are looking to splurge these days.

Thursday, Hermès International–famous for its Kelly bags and silk scarves –was applauded by analysts, after the pace of its sales growth picked up in the third quarter, despite the gloomy macroeconomic climate and cooling business elsewhere in the high-end goods industry.

Hermès, which has positioned itself among the pricier luxury goods brands, showed with Thursday’s figures that, in the luxury goods industry, consumers are always willing to pay for prestige.

J.P. Morgan analyst Melanie Flouquet, said in a research note:

“Hermès proves once again that its relatively cautious approach to growth in buoyant times and its focus on exclusivity pay off in more challenging times.”

Ms. Flouquet added that “the brand is yet again showing more resilience than other leading luxury brands. Operationally we can only praise Hermès’ achievements.”

In recent months, trading updates from several luxury giants have pointed to slowing sales growth…

A surprise profit warning from U.K. retailer Burberry had investors hitting the sell button on the luxury goods sector Tuesday, as the market looked ahead to the German ruling on the European Stability Mechanism Wednesday.

We’ve rifled through the big broker notes to provide you with a selection of the day’s top equity ratings changes.

Burberry was seriously under the cosh Tuesday after an unexpected trading update and profit warning. Nomura was quick off the mark, downgrading the stock to neutral from buy, saying that the trading update highlights a broad-based traffic slowdown.

Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke’s big bazooka statement failed to materialize on Friday but markets seem to be taking this in their stride. Looking ahead, there are big event risks this week, including the Bank of England’s and European Central Bank’s monthly policy meetings on Thursday and the nonfarm payrolls report on Friday. So, watch this space.

HSBC has revisited the luxury sector, stating that China’s consumers have become a far more important part of the luxury story than ever imagined. “Perhaps too important,” said the brokerage. HSBC said, “These shoppers have become more sophisticated and discriminating, which means some established brands may lose market share.” They now also make more than half of their luxury purchases abroad, putting pressure on the brands’ Chinese operations, HSBC said. It has downgraded LVMH Moet Hennessy Louis Vuitton to neutral from overweight and upgraded Hermes International to neutral from underweight.

Just two months after reporting its highest ever annual sales and profits, Cartier’s owner Richemont said Monday it expected its reported profit to rise between 20% and 40% for the first half of the year.

On the same day, Italian fashion group Prada reported a 36.5% leap in first half sales, amid strong demand in most regions in the world and Asia in particular.

For Richemont, the normally ultra-cautious company which also owns high-end watch brands Vacheron Constantin, IWC and Piaget, the outlook view is significant and counters much of the trepidation surrounding the industry which has enjoyed a remarkable boom since 2009.

After a record couple of years, many industry observers were waiting for a slowdown – not least because of the tough comparisons with last year’s record sales and profits.

Concerns remain over China–the main boom market for luxury goods–where economic growth has slowed and consumers have become more cautious ahead of the government handover this Autumn.

Rene Weber, an analyst at Bank Vontobel, said:

“The slowdown in China continues, but the other regions are doing surprisingly well. The growth is now much more broad-based.”

Regions like the U.S. and Japan have grown, while Europe – supported by Chinese tourists buying outside their homeland – has remained surprisingly resilient.

Both are classic English brands dating back to the 1850s. They’ve been worn by some of the most famous names in British history–think Winston Churchill, Margaret Thatcher, Princess Diana–and both claim to have invented the iconic trench coat design.

But whereas one today reported sales of over £1 billion in the last six months, the other has collapsed into administration, having failed spectacularly to capitalize on the recession-beating boom in luxury brands in the last few years.

So how has Burberry managed to go from strength to strength, while its long-time rival, Aquascutum, is staring insolvency in the face?